Bureau of Land Management Seeks Help Increasing Access to Public Lands

[joelweb]

I spoke with a colleague at the BLM national office.

The access project is nationwide. The list pertains to other state specific elements called out in the act.

 

[COEngineer]

Anyone else having trouble accessing the map? It should be open today, right?
I keep getting:
"The specified URL cannot be found."
when I click either of the links:

 

[idahohuntr]

Same here..."specified url cannot be found"...hope it gets fixed soon - maybe being the first day and a friday it didn't get setup right?

Anyways, hope they get it fixed...this prioritization effort is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to see from federal agencies! Can't imagine what good could be done with a few good stewards looking over this program.

 

[mtmiller]

Worked for me at the office, but not at home.

 

[RobG]

This reminds me of a comment by Elsie Arntzen, who is on Montana's land board. She said something to the effect that she is "fighting for the type of access Montanans want: roads and industrial opportunities." I wish I could find the exact quote. Most western republicans have similarly co-opted the word "access" for their own purposes, which doesn't mesh with what our people fought for.

Pendley has demonstrated he is not our friend and I doubt he will use this information to help us get what we want.

 

[Irrelevant]

This reminds me of a comment by Elsie Arntzen, who is on Montana's land board. She said something to the effect that she is "fighting for the type of access Montanans want: roads and industrial opportunities." I wish I could find the exact quote. Most western republicans have similarly co-opted the word "access" for their own purposes, which doesn't mesh with what our people fought for.

Pendley has demonstrated he is not our friend and I doubt he will use this information to help us get what we want.

There are sections of BLM land in WY that are already roaded and industried up but without access. I want access. Just as much as I'd like walk in only access to the unroaded sections. But we might as wells pick the low hanging fruit while we can.

 

[joelweb]

You can disagree with certain aspects of this administration's policies, but they have been very good about opening inaccessible public lands to the public for recreational access. There is nothing nefarious about this effort. Besides, this is a bipartisan effort. The original proposal that helped spearhead this process was introduced by Senator Heinrich from New Mexico. He's a Democrat.

 

[BuzzH]

Bipartisan or not, there's always something in it for a politician/agency/landowers/real estate companies/off road organizations/ business, etc. etc. when things like this are proposed...and I don't see it any differently here.

I think access is great and we need to fight for all we can get, but proceed with eyes wide open that there will be angles played, favors and the normal political crap that goes on with everything to do with public lands, public water, and public wildlife.

I also believe that if we're going to move forward with this, we (hunters, fisherman, and recreationists of all kinds), better show up and be very involved and keep an eye on the type of access we want and don't want.

IMO, its better to have some access, but wide open, do what you want access will turn a good area into just another area real fast. Access has to be controlled or the integrity of the areas are compromised.

Finally, if we're in a big hurry to open up all kinds of access, it would be smart to get more LEO's on the payroll to monitor and enforce access related issues. They're already stretched thin right now patrolling and enforcing off road violations, etc. now. While asking for access, we also should be asking for more funding to the BLM, USFS, etc.

 

[joelweb]

I can't argue with that.

 

[RobG]

I'd wait until the next administration puts some reasonable people in charge.

 

[Irrelevant]

I'd wait until the next administration puts some reasonable people in charge.

you mean Trump 2020, cause that's what it's looking like? I'm don't want to spend another 5 years not doing anything.

 

[RobG]

you mean Trump 2020, cause that's what it's looking like? I'm don't want to spend another 5 years not doing anything.

Well, I would say it is better to do nothing now than do something dumb now. Either way, we will need to stand up to the various industries who will want "access" for their "recreation."

The one good thing about participating now would be that you would have standing to object to whatever they have planned, but you should be pretty clear about the type of access you want.

 

[COEngineer]

I keep getting:
"The specified URL cannot be found."
when I click either of the links: View attachment 127017

Still no workie

 

[davinski]

Link still broken in Chrome, Firefox, and whatever MS calls its big blue "e" these days. I need a good reason to go pop into the new HQ a block away, maybe this is it!

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I was able to open the web-viewer and leave a comment

 

[Six by five]

Thanks for sharing, this is very big news.

The eplanning site worked for me. You can open a nationwide map and zoom in to the parcels you want to identify.

National - WO-200 - Public Land Access Project

Once the link above is opened you can scroll to the bottom left and select Nomination map to open the map.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I did my best to ruin all the walk-in only pronghorn spots

Get after it folks.

 

[SaskHunter]

Can we somehow submit the entire north-east corner of Wyoming?

Asking for a friend.

 

[fmnjr]

I hope something actually comes of this, really. But my experience working with BLM tells me it's going to be some kind of long, arduous slog, if anything ever happens. It takes months just to get a ROW dedication signed by them for land THEY give to the school district. Moving dirt from one site to another? Yikes, to them that gravel is worthy of miles of red tape to get it done. Properly manage feral horses, on BLM land? Never gonna happen. Sorry to be the one here who says it, but it ain't happening.....at least for a very, very long time.

 

[davinski]

It works now. I can't get the BLM land to fade out enough to see really well the land/drainages I commented on. Hopefully it was close. I plan on passing this info along to friends who I know would comment. I highly recommend spreading the word as far as possible. It doesn't seem like it, but BLM does actually take and read the comments. And the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the more comments on a particular area tend to elevate the issue. CO has much landlocked public BLM country bound up by a small private parcel at the bottom of a drainage preventing access. IMHO the main problem with BLM travel management plans is they seem to only look in 2D without factoring in ridges, elevation, water, and realistic access, even unmotorized access.